


Scavengers

by orphan_account



Series: First Impressions And Second Thoughts [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, M/M, bucky is a item to be found, scavenger hunt, steve isnt great by himself
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-20
Updated: 2016-01-20
Packaged: 2018-05-15 05:32:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5773240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Avengers rope Steve into a couple's scavenger hunt, but when Bucky cancels, who knows what's gonna happen?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scavengers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The scavenger hunt gets off on a rocky start.

Steve was happy. Not just 'yay, we won the fight!' adrenaline, but glowing, shining eyes, jumping up-and-down, truly happy. Steve had invited Bucky to spend the weekend at the Avengers tower, and hang out in the city together.

However, when the rest of the Avengers (well, less Bruce and Thor, but the rest of the Avengers, oh god) got hold of this new development, they insisted on doing a couples scavenger hunt. Of course, you couldn’t really say no to Natasha or Tony. They're both way too invested in everybody's, but mostly his, romantic life. That was kind of ironic, coming from the guy who can't hold a steady relationship and the aromantic Soviet ex-spy. Thankfully, Bucky not only agreed, but was part of the planning and searching.  
“Hey, fossil, come get your clues!” A clear voice yelled, all the way across the ground floor of the Avengers tower.  
“Wow, ok, don’t bite me!” Steve joked back. Striding over to them, he nearly tripped over Winnifred, one of many -many- robotic kittens around the tower. The kittens were everywhere. Everywhere. Peering down, Steve saw that she had his cell in her mouth.  
“Oy, give that here, no, stay, Winni!” Scooping up the kitten, he pried his phone gently from her mouth. Thankfully it was a StarkPhone, and tougher than your average mobile. ‘Super soldier strong!’ was the unofficial slogan. Steve mentally groaned at the phrase. He heard his ringtone - Star Spangled Man - chime and answered his phone after glancing at the caller ID. It was Bucky.  
“Hey Buck, what’s up?”  
“Hey Stevie. I’m really busy today, so I won’t be able to make it into the city today, and I’m really sorry to cancel on you so late, but… Anyway, I’ll probably be done by tonight so don’t worry about me.”  
“Aww, Bucky. Didn’t take you for a last-minute ditching type!” Steve tried to go for a teasing tone but even her could hear the almost abandoned note in his voice. The blond wondered what could have caused Bucky to skip their - date? Anyway, Bucky had said he was free earlier that week. Lost in thought, Steve missed the start of Bucky talking again.  
“- promise I’ll come over tonight, but have fun with the treasure hunt now! Gotta win for me, Stevie.”  
Steve felt his heart sink. Even though he had known Bucky for less than a week, he felt like he had known him all his life. Part of this was due to Nat regaling him of tales from their past, but most of this was a connection with him. Steve knew it sounded cheesy, but it was true. He was an old-fashioned, true love kinda guy. Not necessarily one true love, but Steve loves with all his heart when he lets somebody in. He had been texting Bucky and spending so much time with him that the guy probably knew Steve the most, apart from the rest of the Avengers. Now he had to spend a day alone in the city, probably anxious half the time and signing autographs the other half. Ugh. Natasha trotted over to him and handed him a slip of white paper.  
Natasha’s voice rang strongly throughout the room. “So, here's the instructions. Your first clue is here. You go to wherever you think the first answer is, and grab the next clue from the end of the obstacle. However, as we’re the Avengers, and nothing is ever that simple, you have to look for items at the same time. Here’s your checklist. Teams can’t communicate with each other or make physical contact, no stealing other team’s stuff, blah blah blah. Vision, try give everyone else a chance please,” - The android inclined his head gracefully - “Oh, and no reading any other team’s minds. I'm looking at you, Wanda. Any questions?” The fiery redhead smirked at the Scarlet Witch, who ducked her head in turn, blushing. A murmur of dissent at the last question worked through the room.  
“Wait, teams? Who am I with?”  
“Steve. This is a couple’s scavenger hunt, remember? You’re with James of course, there’s Wanda and Vision, Sam and Rhodey, Clint and Pietro. Not that Sam and Rhodes are dating, but they were willing, so. Bruce’s staying out, he doesn’t want to excite the big guy,” Nat had lowered her voice to a normal speaking tone, but now she raised it back up, to an announcing volume.  
“So we, as in the rest of us including Tony and I, are watching you guys to ensure no cheating is happening. You’ll also have to take photos of the items on your checklist and send it to Pepper as soon as you get them. There’s a couple of different objects for each team, but there are a few ones that everybody has. We’ll see you around, but you won't see us.” Natasha slipped another white piece of paper into his hand and gracefully stalked off to her - judge’s table? Wow, she was getting way too into this. Steve looked down at his checklist -

 **Scavenger Hunt Items**  
~ Yellow car  
~ Blue train  
~ Cinnamon Teal  
~ Bird book  
~ Oak tree  
~ Big cat statue  
~ A date

Steve blinked. The list sounded like a preschooler wrote it. Or Tony. Probably Tony.  
Steve stared incredulously at the last one. A date? Really? Was he supposed to go to a supermarket or something? Oh, if only Bucky was here. Steve worked better when he was with others, in a team. Alone, he was muddled up. Better under pressure, but still not top of his game. Just then, somebody, most likely Natasha, blew a foghorn. Blinking, Steve opened the first riddle.

_Go to the place has a million stories, but can’t tell them.  
There you’ll find the fourth thing; and a roaring stone gem._

Furrowing his brow, Steve concentrated for a minute. Aha, a library! It must mean the NYC public library, Steve thought, but what did the second line mean? The fourth thing… A roaring stone gem? Risking a quick look at the other teams, Steve saw that they were discussing their riddle. Steve scooped up his pre-packed bag and walked out of the tower. He decided to text Bucky a photo of the checklist and the first riddle and ask for help before putting his earphones in. Snapping a photo of a yellow BMW, he sent it to Pepper.

  
Bucky yawned and stretched luxuriously. He had texted Steve all last night and then slept in until 12, and after showering and pretty much getting reasonable, he had called Steve, to ‘cancel’. He felt kinda guilty about it, because Steve was such a good guy and didn’t deserve to be lied to.

Originally, he had planned to spend the day walking round the city with Steve, so he called a day off work and got Jim to cover for him. Natalia was convinced that having a night out together after a scavenger hunt would be the best way of bonding with Steve. Bucky himself had actually suggested to have himself as part of it, as a scavenger item.

Bucky listened to his text tone chime before dragging himself off the couch to go make some coffee. Probably just a plain black, nothing like the ones at H.R. Because his shift was covered, he had nothing to do. Ugh, Bucky hated doing nothing. A habit left over from the military, it made him feel useless. He might as well find something productive to do, make the lie he told Steve a half-truth. Finally finishing his bitter coffee, he checked his phone as he walked back to his couch. His apartment had, like, three rooms. Bedroom, bathroom, and the rest of the living areas combined.

 _Hey Buck_  
_i miss you._  
_can you help me with something?_  
_I know the first line means its a library_  
_i have no idea what the second means_

The message had two attachments, and as Bucky opened the first one, he smiled at Steve's texts. He stupidly blinked at the photo - the riddle. ‘There you'll find the fourth thing and a roaring gem’. The fuck? Shaking his head slowly, he opened the next photo. Looking down the checklist, something clicked. The fourth one on the list was a bird book, which Stevie would have no trouble finding at the library, and a roaring stone gem? That must mean the lion statue outside NYC Public Library. Texting Steve about his newest revelation, Bucky grinned. Perusing the rest of the list, he smirked at the last one. A date? Sounded like something Natasha would say, a not-so-subtle dig at them. Bucky wondered if Steve would figure that out. Well, Bucky wasn’t about to ruin the surprise for him.

  
As Steve padded into the soft silence of the library, he gazed at the massive rows of books. When he got Buck’s texts, he had immediately scrambled to take a photo of the lion statue and send it to Pepper, and received a text back within seconds saying well done and that he was the first for that photo. Meandering down the bird section, he grabbed hold of ‘Birds of Prey: The Real Sky Softies’ and sent a photo of it to Pep, grinning. She would get a kick out of that. Pepper texted him back to say congrats and to go to the counter, get out a book reserved for him and open it to page 107. Ok.  
Strolling over to the librarian’s desk, he asked about his reserved book and found out it was called Modern Heroes, by G. Varense. After checking the book out and thanking the librarian, he wandered over to one of the nearby study desks. As he opened the book to page 107, a piece of paper slipped out. Picking it up off the floor, he saw it had black writing all over it. At the top of the sheet it said ‘Avengers Initiative: S.H.I.E.L.D Code Breaking - Test’. Typical of Tony to steal (and adapt to his own ends) at least one challenge from S.H.I.E.L.D. Steve grinned at how well the team knew each other - they might as well be family now, they had gone through so much together. Scanning the test, Steve thought that it was pretty basic, but Tony had mentioned that the course played to each Avenger’s strengths. This would probably be his or Clint’s strong suit, as long as there were no darts or ultimate frisbee challenges. Working through the code, Steve found a couple of words - go, Climbers, top, blue, and rock, to be exact. Finishing the sentence, it read: ‘go to Mountain Climbers, the top of the blue rock wall’. Steve had been there once before, and the rock climbing walls had levels based on colours, with Scarlet as the easiest, and guess what was the hardest? Cobalt. Go figure. Steve placed the book and the test paper into his backpack and pulled out his phone. Using the GPS, Steve figured out that Mountain Climbers was about twenty minutes walking away, ten if he caught the train. Steve decided on the latter and headed towards the closest station.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did anybody get the 'G. Varense' easter egg? No? well, it is a anagram of avengers.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, this was based off a prompt i saw on tumblr somewhere, and its 100% terrible. why do i do this


End file.
